At Larose's Bakery on Broad Street in New Britain, Paul Krancicki, 43, deep fries paczki, a popular Polish pastry that resembles a donut or bagel. The traditional pastry is savored on Fat Tuesday before the beginning of Lent.

On Fat Tuesday in New Britain it’s the succulent Polish paczki at Larose’s Bakery. On Ash Wednesday in Hartford, it’s a Portuguese mass at Igreja de Nossa Senhora de Fátima.

Father Antonio Jorge Tchingui blesses Zachary Gacome, 2, on the forehead with ashes during a noontime Ash Wednesday mass at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church in Hartford. Fr. Tchingui is the Portuguese-speaking pastor of Our Lady of Fatima.

Floyree McGhee, 67, of Hartford, sings 'My Girl' with Kim 'Mr. Versatility' Myers of Plantsville at the annual Black History Month celebration at the North End Senior Center in Hartford Friday February 17, 2012.

Holidays are always big affairs at the North End Senior Center in Hartford, but Black History Month is a special tradition.

As guests began arriving for a celebration on Friday, February 17th, jazz music — played by legendary Hartford pianist Emery Smith — streamed from an upright piano in the common room, inviting hoots, hollers and claps.

A display of World War II memorabilia introduced Connie Nappier, a Tuskegee airman and the featured speaker.

“These seniors are the black history of Hartford,” said senior center director Karen Bailey-Addison.

No matter the occasion, the center always draws a crowd. The decorations may vary, but a traditional ethnic meal, entertainment, special presentations and good conversation can always be expected.

“The senior center tries to be the bridge that connects you,” Bailey-Addison said. “Just by being able to know that you don’t have to be in the community alone.”

Jake Gardner, 80, left, and Reggie Martin, 80, sing while Emery Smith plays piano at the annual Black History Month celebration at the North End Senior Center in Hartford Friday February 17, 2012. All three went to high school together, graduates of Weaver High School class of 1951.

Karen Bailey-Addison, director of the center, dances with Juanita Thomas, 81, to 'Under the Boardwalk'.

From left, Reggie Martin, talks to Connie Nappier and Merle Davis at the annual Black History Month celebration at the North End Senior Center in Hartford Friday February 17, 2012. Nappier was the featured speaker of the day, one of the Tuskegee Airmen in WWII, and a graduate of Weaver High School in Hartford.

Gladys Fisher, left, shows Emery Smith an old picture of his father being honored at the Union Baptist Church on Main Street from the Hartford Courant in February of 1959.

Emery Smith looks at an old pictures with Gladys Fisher.

Thurman Saunders, right, lays out silverware for attendees at the annual Black History Month celebration.

Chef Lionel Thompson Sr. of Hartford makes fried chicken and catfish as the main course.

Bradley Jones, left, and Thurman Saunders, right, plate up dishes of fried chicken, cole slaw, rice and griddle cakes.

Volunteer Elaine Hatcher gets a little ribbing from Anthony Waterman Sr. as she sets down his drink.

Below: hear Emery tickle the ivories.

Black History Month at the North End Senior Center from Bettina Hansen on Vimeo.

to see more images from the North End Senior Center, check out my previous post, Keeping in Touch.

UConn started looking like UConn again last night as they pulled out some tricks to beat Villanova 73-70 in overtime, lifted by a last-second, almost 30-ft three by Shabazz Napier and career-high 32 points from Jeremy Lamb at the Wells Fargo Arena in Philadelphia. (click the ” i ” on the gallery for captions).

Read all about it in the game story from beat writer Dom Amore.

02.07.2012 - Mansfield Hollow, CT - Charlie Prewitt

Charlie Prewitt’s 93 years have been a long and winding journey — from witnessing racial prejudice while growing up in southern Indiana in the 1920s, to helping build an atomic bomb during World War II, to a career promoting peace and human rights.

Through it all, the Mansfield resident credits one person with his transformation from atomic scientist to active pacifist: his wife, Virginia.

“If I had married someone who had the same attitude as me and supported me, I probably would have that same attitude today. I’d be racist and conservative. But Virginia, slowly and gently, over 65 years, changed me.”

In the summer before his senior year as a chemistry major at Transylvania University in Lexington, Ky., Prewitt was teaching a chemistry course, when a “vision of loveliness” — a student named Virginia Stewart — walked into his classroom.

Two weeks later he asked her out on a date. Two weeks after that, they were engaged. And in the summer of 1941 they were married in Lexington.

In the fall of 1941, Charlie was recruited for the U.S. government’s secret Manhattan Project, whose work led to the development of the atomic bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, in 1945 to end World War II. The project initially sent him to work as a chemist at an Army facility in Oak Ridge, Tenn., where Virginia would also be employed. Later on, they were transferred to Hanford, Wash.

Prewitt says that from the beginning of the project he had reservations about building “a bomb that could blow up a whole city.” He and some other chemists wanted to stop their work, but were told by their superiors that if they quit, they “would be drafted and sent right back to their same desks. We had families, so we stayed,” Prewitt said. The day after the war ended, “I quit.”

The natural sciences, Prewitt said, “discovered how to destroy all life on Earth.” So after the war, Charlie and Virginia decided to teach social sciences. “If there was any contribution we could make, it would be as educators.”

In 1952 Prewitt began teaching at Eastern Connecticut State University. He retired in 1979 but continues to teach peace and human rights part time, as well as attending weekly peace vigils.

Last September, ECSU dedicated the Virginia and Charles Prewitt Office of Peace and Human Rights and a foundation has been created in Charlie’s and Virginia’s names to provide scholarships for students demonstrating an interest in peace and human rights.

Virginia died in 2007.

“The greatest gain in my life was marrying her,” says Prewitt. “The greatest loss of my life was losing her.”

…

…

2012.02.20

“Love is a madness; if thwarted it develops fast.” – Mark Twain, The Memorable Assassination

Here are some of the best pictures from our Valentine’s Day coverage at the Courant.

Cuer2, a Peruvian theatre group, presents a free performance of its piece, "Hebras," in the atrium of City Hall Thursday February 9, 2012.

The atrium was hushed after a short introduction and in a circle of plastic chairs, about forty people awaited the start of the show. Two actors, masked and shirtless, emerged from the grand staircase, and under majestic architecture, began in a silent embrace.

All of this, in the people’s building, Hartford City Hall.

Roly Dávila, 25, stands as Jose Luis Urteaga, 28, wraps cloth around his waist while the two get ready in a conference room in City Hall.

Under a roof that normally holds politicians, administrators and meetings, Cuer2, (pronounced Cuer-dos, Spanish for the number two) a theatre group from Lima, Peru, gave a special free performance of their play ‘Hebras’ last Thursday February 9, 2012 in the atrium of City Hall.

The mask and white cloth worn my actors in the performance 'Hebras' by Cuer2, a Peruvian theatre group, sits on the table as they get ready.

Roly Dávila, 25, of the Peruvian theatre group Cuer2, does a series of flips and stretches to warm up in the offices of Hartford City Hall

The story undulated from reflective moments of the actors studying each other in silence to frantically tearing at one another in frustration and anger. Director Roberto Sánchez-Piérola, used to working with live musicians, crouched by the stereo, playing the musical accompaniment. When the music died down, all that could be heard was footsteps on the marble and heavy breathing from behind the masks.

Roly Dávila, 25, looks back at Jose Luis Urteaga, 28, before taking the stage.

With no words and masks to hide facial expressions, the two actors, Roly Dávila, 25, and Jose Luis Urteaga, 28, used their bodies to expand on the theme of relationships. Translated, the title ‘Hebras’ means ‘Threads’.

Roly Dávila, 25, of Lima, Peru, walks in from the staircase in Hartford City Hall before giving a performance in the atrium.

“The idea was to talk about humans, regardless of gender,” said Director Sánchez-Piérola about the meaning of the play. “Relationships with others, but also with yourself.”

Relationships are exactly what brought Cuer2 to Hartford in the first place.

Cuer2, a Peruvian theatre group, presents a free performance of its piece, "Hebras," in the atrium of City Hall.

The group has been touring in the states for about a month, playing approximately 10 shows at universities in Pennsylvania, Ohio and New York, and through a contact at the University of Connecticut, planned a showing of both ‘Interruptor’, a spoken-word play, and ‘Hebras’ on February 9 on campus.

Cuer2, a Peruvian theater group, presents a free performance of its piece, "Hebras," in the atrium of City Hall Thursday February 9, 2012.

Without words or facial expressions, the two actors of Cuer2 told the story of their play 'Hebras', through body language set to music, with silent stretches and sounds of breathing.

Hartford City Councilman Luis Cotto got word of the group’s planned performance in Storrs. “I thought, ‘That looks awesome, but it’s at two o’clock at UConn,” Cotto said.

His next question was, “What do we have to do to bring them here?” Four days before the performance, Cotto had the artists, but just needed the audience and support.

Cotto, right, greets Cuer2.

From a personal donation from Mayor Pedro Segarra to the meals and rooms donated by Trinity College, and the intimate group that turned out for the show, they made the performance happen.

“Every aspect was covered by a different entity,” said Cotto.

Director Roberto Sánchez-Piérola talks after the play.

The Hartford performance would be the last of approximately ten shows they have played in the last month. “What a great way to finish off our tour, we are really loving this place,” said actor Dávila before the show.

As the music died down, the two actors returned to a silent embrace. The crowd returned with a standing ovation, while Urteaga and Dávila stood there with masks off, smiling.

Technical Information: The light was really challenging here. Shot on a Nikon D300s, with the following lenses, 14mm 2.8, 50 1.4 (old) and 17-55 2.8. Shot on the highest possible ISO usually at F1.8 or 2.8 at 1/30th of a second, Auto White Balance.

The latest show was the production “The Mystery of Irma Vep” which required the two characters, Sean Harris and Rich Hollman, to play 8 different roles and make 39 quick costume changes. Tori Mintzer (C) applies makeup to Harris while Hollman slicks his hair down in preparation of wearing a variety of wigs.

Harris and Hollman get help from Sarah Smith (L) and Shushrusha Lamsal (R) fitting into their first costumes of the night. Velcro is sewed into the back of the outfits so the actors can quickly go back stage and change from one costume to the next with minimal delay.

Jane Twisden, played by Hollman, and Lady Enid, Sean Harris, stare into the night and watch as Lord Edgar returns from a hunt for the feared werewolf.

Hollman, as Lord Edgar, proudly shows off the supposed werewolf he killed that haunts the grounds but is later informed he has killed just a wolf. The play involves ghosts, mummies, vampires and werewolves.

Hollman, playing a vampire, draws Lady Enid, played by Harris, into his trance and tries to seduce her. Enid will fight off his advances with the bouquet of flowers she holds.

Harris, as Lady Enid, is comforted by Lord Edgar, Hollman, after she was attacked by a vampire. Hollman had to rush back stage to get out of the vampire costume and back into Lord Edgar, all along he carries on a conversation with Lady Enid from backstage while she tries to compose herself.

In the closing scene Harris emerges through a frame that usually holds a painting of Irma Vep, the former lady of the house and first wife to Lord Edgar, and screams hysterically towards the audience. Lights go down and act one ends.

Unfortunately I was unable to stay for the remainder of the show but from what I did encounter, the audience that saw the shows during January were treated to a great comedy as the two men masterfully portrayed their numerous parts.

Pro Tip: Theater lighting can be very challenging to say the least but the results can be dramatic if patient and the stage is well lit. Working backstage was the most difficult since where the actors were changing costumes was right behind a black curtain at the back of the set and the only lighting used was a dim blue light so the stagehands could find the props and next outfit.

Cameras used: Nikon D300s and D300

Lenses: 17-55/2.8 and 70-200/2.8

Shutter speeds varied from 1/4 of a sec. to 250th and ISO’s of 400 to 2500.

They want pictures of  “Evil.”

And with a Holga.

So simple.

Find Satan’s image hiding in plain sight.

And capture it with a toy camera.

(I remember the line in a movie:

We are errand boys sent by clerks.)

So to Enfield Street,

Where the shattered windshield of a car

Frames a man furtively walking away.

Then over to Albany Avenue next to the auto parts shop,

The one with the graffiti on the wall,

Where the poems of the dead, carved into stones,

Cry out in mute agony among the trash and the weeds.

Then to the apartments on Vine,

Where the police and the gangsters circle each other in an endless loop.

Sitting in the car by the curb, engine running, waiting for something.

Somebody calls my name.

He waves from up there on the stoop.

It takes a moment.

Did I know that he had been shot?

There was a parade.  So many pretty colors and happy faces.

And then.

Pulling up his shirt, he shows the map of the pain.

Scars and sewn flesh, the slugs still inside him.

Sensitive to the cold.

We draw a little crowd, some bringing smiles, some blank stares.

A  kid on a bike glides up with a baseball cap and an RIP tee,

Like wearing a tombstone.

He looks away,  a bird ready to fly, detached from us.

Yet listening, monitoring, absorbing everything.

An old lady pulls groceries in a cart,

Head down as a patrol car swings  to the curb.

Two policemen walk up easy in the summer night.

Got a call, one of them says.

The landlord says you are causing a disturbance.

We need you to leave.

They smile.

01.12.2012 - Rais Bhuyian (L) at Glastonbury High School (credit: Mark Mirko) and Bhuyian (right) in 2001 after he was shot by Mark Stroman (credit: worldwithouthate.org)

Rais Bhuyian has lived through some big dreams. When he was young man in Bangalore, Bangladesh, he dreamed of being a pilot. That dream came true during his service in the Bangladesh Air Force. Rais also dreamt of seeing the world and obtaining a higher education. That dream came true in 1999 after he obtained a student visa to study in New York City.

Rais was in Texas during the attacks of September 11, 2001, and he remembers watching television crying and wondering “Who are these kind of people that can do this kind of harm?”

Four days after those murderous attacks, Waqar Hasan, a Pakistani immigrant living in Texas, was shot and killed by a white supremacist named Mark Stroman. Rais’ dreams changed after Mr. Hasan’s death and for three nights in a row he dreamt of being robbed and shot while working at his friend’s gas station.

On a rainy Texas September 21, 2001, Rais Bhuyian’s nightmarish dream came true.

Mark Stroman walked into the gas station where Rais was working. He pointed a shotgun at his face and asked, “Where are you from?” Rais, who thought he was being robbed, had already placed the cash register’s money on the counter. Before he could answer Stroman’s question, Rais says he felt his face explode with the sensation of “millions of stinging bees.” Stroman’s gun ripped through the right side of Rais’ head. Rais fell to the floor screaming “mom.” Stroman left the store with Rais thinking, “I’m dying today.”

The paramedics who arrived on the scene, understanding that a man had been shot in the head with a shotgun, told Rais later they expected to see, “a body on the floor.” Instead, they said they saw something that “looked like a slaughtered chicken running toward the ambulance.”

Rais survived the attack and still lives in Dallas but this year, in January, he was visiting Glastonbury High School at the invitation of English and drama teacher Linda Napoletano. She connected with Rais through Facebook and has been working with him to write a play about his life. The play is called Blind and Toothless, in reference to the idea of exchanging an “eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.”

About three weeks after Rais was shot, Mark Stroman walked into the store where Vasudev Patel, from India, worked and shot him dead with a .44 caliber pistol. In 2002 Stroman said while being tried for his crimes and sentenced to death “that he had performed a patriotic duty.”

The fact that Rais Bhuyian survived being shot at such close range is remarkable. What Rais sought for his attacker, however, is the message Rais wants people to hear. Bhuyian, with the support of the families of Mark Stroman’s other victim’s, fought to stop his execution. Rais spoke on Stroman’s behalf at universities as well as the German and European Parliaments. He formed a website, worldwithouthate.org, and collected 12,000 virtual signatures from around the world, asking Texas to commute Stroman’s sentence to life in prison without parole.

Mark Stroman was executed by lethal injection on July 20, 2011. In September of 2011, Rais filed suit against the State of Texas and governor Rick Perry for being denied his right to meet Stroman, a right afforded under the state’s Victim’s Bill of Rights.

During his talks with the Glastonbury High School students, Rais said that for most of the ten years Mark Stroman was on death row, he continued to espouse his ideas of white supremacy. In a Huffington Post story dated July 18, 2011, however, it was reported that:

According to those close to Stroman, the efforts by Bhuiyan on his behalf have contributed to a change of heart in a man who called his crimes “patriotic” before his trial and who prosecutors once described as a cold-blooded killer.

In an interview last week, Stroman told Ilan Ziv, a documentary filmmaker, that he was remorseful for the crimes and was deeply moved by Bhuiyan’s attempts to save his life.

When asked at Glastonbury High School why he wanted to meet Mark Stroman, Rais said, “I wanted to connect with him in a human way. Not as a murderer. I wanted to learn from him, to understand him. What went wrong, and how did he change once I started my campaign? He was talking about peace and human rights and love because he found this from his survivor. What really went on in his mind that made him change? That is powerful and I could relay that message to other people.”

…

…

…

East Haven Mayor Joseph Maturo, Jr. met with every media outlet who asked in his office Wed. to apologize for his off-hand "Taco" remark.

Maturo has been at the center of a controversy since WPIX-TV reporter Mario Diaz asked him what he was going to do for East Haven’s Latino community in the wake of the arrest of four police officers on harassment and intimidation charges.

“I might have tacos when I go home. I’m not quite sure yet,” he said.

The media and the public jumped on his “flippant” statement and the public relations firestorm began for the mayor. Soon the arrests of four of his police officers who were arrested Tuesday after a long federal investigation, were all but forgotten. They were charged with crimes against members of the town’s Latino community ranging from beating handcuffed suspects to obstructing justice.

Mayor Joseph Maturo insisted he would not resign on Thursday, even while an immigration reform group brought 500 tacos to his office in response to his comment.

When I met the mayor in his office Wednesday, he seemed like a very nice guy who likes to tell jokes and kid around. I think from now on, he may have to pre-edit what comes out of his mouth.